Cactus

A cactus rendered in color woodblock, its spined form given graphic treatment by an artist more accustomed to the soft forms of snow scenes and coastal landscapes. The 1932 date places this in Henmi's most active period. The cactus — an exotic, foreign plant — may represent Henmi's interest in the unfamiliar or the imported, the living plant as botanical curiosity rendered through the traditional Japanese medium of woodblock printing. The spines and ribs of the cactus offered a compositional challenge distinct from any of his usual subjects.